It's Something Else

Soleimani was Iran’s top military official and the second most powerful person in the country

People comparing this to drone strikes on people suspected of terrorism are missing this very important point. This was not a drone strike on a terrorist group. This was assassinating a high-level official from another country.

Trump had him assassinated without Congressional authorization. According to Pelosi, Congress wasn’t even notified. We found out about the attack when it was announced last night on Iraqi television.

Lindsay Graham is now saying he knew about the plan 2 days ago. This means he is either lying to make it seem less like Trump did this out of nowhere, or Trump is selectively briefing members of Congress who he’s friendly with.

The official justification for this assassination was Soleimani was “actively planning” an attack on Americans. Those of you who remember the lead up to the Iraq war may recognize this “preemptive strike” language.

Whether or not Soleimani was an “enemy” isn’t important. Putin is an enemy. North Korea threatens everyone. But there’s a reason we don’t just assassinate officials from other countries, even if they demonstrably don’t like us, and that’s because it can start a war

You might notice that those other examples I used have dangerous weapons of their own. That’s what is material here. Trump, in his zeal for destroying Obama’s legacy, threw out the Iran Nuclear Agreement. That agreement was a big deal because it brought Iran to the negotiating table for the first time in years. Now? Never again. But also, this is terrible for anyone who sincerely believes in the goal of global nuclear disarmament, because it’s essentially confirming that unless your country has the firepower to reasonably threaten others, there is no guarantee of safety, because the US won’t even hold to its own agreements. What incentive then is there to not build weapons of your own?

This act is just the latest bit of bizarre foreign policy decisions by the Trump administration. The Kurds helped us in the fight with Syria, and we betrayed them. Trump gives North Korea everything, including a public appearance with a US President, and they continue to threaten everyone with their missiles. Iran has an agreement with us, and we throw it away and kill their top general.

Bruce L. Reed (American, b. 1977) Work in Progress continued. 4-27-16